Vegas Baby!

Some actual fun travel news to write about. How about them apples?

Tia and I just got back from our 2-year anniversary in Vegas. It was, as are most trips, full of roses and thorns, but mostly roses.

Roses:
+ Tia pulled the anniversary card and got us a first class upgrade on the way out. Free booze, a nice snack, and roomy seats. Nice!

+ Free Show: La Reve. Like most cirque style shows the story was confusing, if present at all, but it was visually stunning. If we had to pay for it (which would have been $141/ea), I would not have rated it very highly. More like mediocre with some truly amazing parts. However, since it was free: 5 stars!

+ Red Rocks - a nice, and relatively close, excursion away from the hustle and bustle of the strip. so nice and quiet and relaxing.

+ Gambling - as per our m.o., we didn't gamble much money.......but we were able to play for a long time, get lots of free adult beverages, and actually win some minor monies along the way.

+ In and Out Burger - I had heard about it for so long and was excited to try it. Had to go all out and go animal style as well. Yes, it was probably horribly bad for me, but no I did not regret it at all. The best meal, dollar for dollar, we had the whole trip.

+ Oxtail - In my desire to try new foods, finally had some oxtail in a little Asian place in the Rio. Quite fatty, but good flavor. Glad I tried it.

Thorns:
- Ride in from the Vegas airport - I thought I was going to hurl. As a bonus, the driver not only took every back road in Vegas (and the shuttle had absolutely no shocks it appeared) but we were the last stop. It was nearly an hour. After such a nice flight, this truly sucked the wind out of our sails.

- Check in - Based on conversations with the reservation person, I thought we were set up in one of the higher floors overlooking the strip. We did overlook it, but really low down. The person who checked us in was unfriendly and, though they noted in the reservation it was our anniversary, did nothing for us other than mention it offhandedly. Thumbs down for that Wynn LV!

- Food prices - Yikes! Even the buffets in the Wynn topped $90 for the both of us. Food isn't really cheap anywhere (save places with drive-thrus). Long gone are the cheap shrimp cocktails and buffets. Most of the drinks (were you to sit at a bar) at the Wynn were upwards of $14/ea as well. No bueno! Thankfully, we gambled enough for a free buffet before we left. Bonus!

Overall, very nice trip. For the value with our offer, totally worth it. Otherwise, I think we will likely be staying elsewhere next trip in.

In work news: Heading in to the GS clinic tomorrow. Might be able to do a few shifts a week there and a few at MP. It is under a different department, who is working with my boss to get us our hours while filling in there empty slots, so it should be a nice change of pace. More on that later. Still applying out for a few other positions as well (including one I am really crossing my fingers about in legacy dealing with the new EPIC program.........based on my track record, I am expecting not even an interview). Cross em.

More to come.